2018 Draft Prospect Profile: Cole Winn

Background
Winn, 18, is originally from the Denver suburb of Silver Creek, but he is spending his senior year at Gerrit Cole’s alma mater, Orange Lutheran High School in California. The move allowed him to get more exposure leading up to the draft. So far this spring Winn has a 0.33 ERA with 69 strikeouts and six walks in 42 innings. He’s committed to Mississippi State.

Scouting Report
At 6-foot-2 and 195 lbs., Winn is a solidly built high school righty with projection remaining. His fastball sits mostly 90-92 mph right now and has touched 94 mph. He stands out most for his quality set of secondary pitches, led by a hard swing-and-miss curveball. Winn also throws a short slider that almost looks like a cutter, and a sneaky good changeup. He’s a good athlete with a simple and repeatable delivery, which helps him throw strikes. The move to Southern California allowed Winn to prove himself against high caliber competition and he’s established himself as one of the top prep arms in the draft class.

Miscellany
With the draft exactly six weeks away, Keith Law (subs. req’d) ranks Winn as the 11th best prospect in the draft class while Baseball America and MLB.com rank him 32nd and 41st, respectively. The Yankees hold the 23rd overall pick. This is a down year for Southern California — only five of Baseball America’s top 100 draft prospects are from SoCal, if you can believe that — but the Yankees love prospects from the region, and Winn is arguably the best. He has size, a chance for multiple above-average secondary pitches, and a good delivery. Plenty to like here.